I enjoyed living in LA. I grew up in SF and came back because I have family here, but I find the irrational aversion to LA from SF extremely irritating.
LA does have somewhat dirty air, compared to SF, this is true. However, out by the coasts, it's not too bad, and the water quality at the beaches is actually very high (it has improved immensely over the years, but perception hasn't quite caught up). LA also has a lot of old neighborhoods with a really cool vibe. Hiking and more remote beaches aren't nearly as difficult to come by as people up here think, and the beach towns (Manhattan, Hermosa, and so forth) are pretty great. Also, people in LA don't start sentences with "as a fourth generation native LA resident" crap that is truly irritating in SF, and they don't seem to think that "right to move" is unidirectional (we can move out, but nobody's allowed to move in… I'm looking at you, Seattle). LA is also adding more and more density, getting more urban (as the bay area sprawls out due to severe building constraints).
Also, there's quite a bit of very interesting and creative work here. I worked for a film compositing software company, and it was kind of great.
With electric cars on the way? Eh, maybe some days LA will get its air quality under control. Then it really will be a huge, traffic clogged, overcrowded, clean, creative gem of a city… well, at least parts of it.
Ok, one thing - I've been hard on SF here, but that's because this is a particular issue where I think SF residents have it totally wrong. On the balance, I actually do think SF is a beautiful place - it's got problems, but the undeveloped coast, redwood forests, hills over the bay, and so forth are also spectacular, and some sections of the city are historic, dense, urban, and walkable in a way that you still don't really find almost anywhere else west of the Mississippi. There does seem to be a tendency toward hyperbole on the "sf suks" style post that would rival the knee jerk reaction to LA you sometimes see here as well.
LA does have somewhat dirty air, compared to SF, this is true. However, out by the coasts, it's not too bad, and the water quality at the beaches is actually very high (it has improved immensely over the years, but perception hasn't quite caught up). LA also has a lot of old neighborhoods with a really cool vibe. Hiking and more remote beaches aren't nearly as difficult to come by as people up here think, and the beach towns (Manhattan, Hermosa, and so forth) are pretty great. Also, people in LA don't start sentences with "as a fourth generation native LA resident" crap that is truly irritating in SF, and they don't seem to think that "right to move" is unidirectional (we can move out, but nobody's allowed to move in… I'm looking at you, Seattle). LA is also adding more and more density, getting more urban (as the bay area sprawls out due to severe building constraints).
Also, there's quite a bit of very interesting and creative work here. I worked for a film compositing software company, and it was kind of great.
With electric cars on the way? Eh, maybe some days LA will get its air quality under control. Then it really will be a huge, traffic clogged, overcrowded, clean, creative gem of a city… well, at least parts of it.
Ok, one thing - I've been hard on SF here, but that's because this is a particular issue where I think SF residents have it totally wrong. On the balance, I actually do think SF is a beautiful place - it's got problems, but the undeveloped coast, redwood forests, hills over the bay, and so forth are also spectacular, and some sections of the city are historic, dense, urban, and walkable in a way that you still don't really find almost anywhere else west of the Mississippi. There does seem to be a tendency toward hyperbole on the "sf suks" style post that would rival the knee jerk reaction to LA you sometimes see here as well.